Hello friends, it's my fourth-favorite CO Trash tradition: announcing the next tournament after the writing, but before the running, of the current one. We're barging our way into the Sunday of CO/EO(/MO???) weekend of 2020/21 to run this again, having found that trading summer trash years with Erik Nelson and the PQB crew works out pretty well for everyone involved. This tournament will once again be written by Andrew Hart, Carsten Gehring, and me, with a special guest appearance by Not Cory Haala. We will of course remain steadfastly opposed to the words and deeds of Randy Wittman.

Much like the 2016 and 2018 events, the distribution for this tournament will resemble but not precisely match this:

4/4 Sports: 1/1 football; 1/1 baseball; 1/1 basketball; 1/1 other
4/4 Film: 1/1 pre-1980s; 2/1 or 1/2 1980s and 90s; 2/1 or 1/2 2000s with a mix of genres
4/4 TV: .5/.5 pre-1990; 1/1 1990s; 2.5/2.5 2000 or later with a mix of genres
4/4 Music: 1/1 rock; 1/1 pop; 1/1 rap, R&B, soul; 1/1 other or more of big three with a mix of times
1.5/1.5 video games
1/1 comics/trash lit
1.5/1.5 other

This event should resemble the previous ones in most other major elements as well: the set will contain 14 packets consisting of questions of reasonable length and similar difficulty.

All teams are once again welcome, though the staff and room situation may place practical limits on the number. Additionally, we may once again implement a tiered registration system allowing priority registration for teams containing people playing or staffing CO proper, in order to encourage people interested in trash to play or staff CO proper. Our hope is to be the main event on CO Sunday, but we'll work closely with other side event organizers to plan a reasonable schedule.

Field cap

The field cap will be 20 teams until we hear about room availability. It will likely be at least 24 teams, and we hope to be able to accommodate every team that wants to play.

Staffing

If you're interested in staffing, please fill out this form. Staffers will be paid $20 and will receive lunch (consisting of the order of your choice from a particular takeout restaurant).

Registration

Please register by filling out this form. Do not register until you have a full 4-person roster! (You may register a 4-person roster and change it up later if necessary by emailing me at [email protected].)

Teams with at least one staffer/player/editor of CO proper will receive priority registration by registering before [a date yet to be determined], after which registration will be purely first come, first served. In the past, no team that has registered has not been able to play.

Free agents and field

Here is a team spreadsheet listing free agent and field. Free agents can also post in the thread. Editing this spreadsheet will NOT register your team; you have to fill out the form for that (see above).

Format

There will be 14 packets and at least 10 rounds, ideally with zero byes (though this will depend on staffers/field size). Exact format will depend on field size.

Editorial stance toward Randy Wittman

The editors of this tournament hereby denounce the NBA coaching of Randy Wittman, and commend the Washington Wizards for their decision to move on from his substandard tactics and leadership.

When the staffer recruitment form asks if you're "comfortable" reading or staffing a room by yourself does that just mean "Are you familiar and proficient enough with quizbowl to do this" or is a target time limit per round implied, and if so what would you want?

Eric Wolfsberg
Bethlehem Central High School 2016
University of Delaware 2020
Stanford 2025 or whatever

When the staffer recruitment form asks if you're "comfortable" reading or staffing a room by yourself does that just mean "Are you familiar and proficient enough with quizbowl to do this" or is a target time limit per round implied, and if so what would you want?

Basically, do you think you could read and keep score by yourself and finish rounds in a reasonable amount of time. Ideally, rounds will change over every 35-40 minutes.

As other events look toward potential postponement until the summer because of the pandemic, we'll be monitoring the situation and may have to announce a rescheduling of CO Trash. I hope we'll be able to maintain our claim on CO Sunday in the event that CO has to be rescheduled to accommodate other events or, in more dire circumstances, because the outbreak continues to make travel unsafe for participants or their communities this summer. In any event, anyone considering booking travel or lodging for CO Trash should hold off on making arrangements until there's more certainty about when the event will occur. Rest assured that, to a person, your humble CO Trash writers--Rob, Carsten, me, and NOT Cory Haala--are committed to holding this event when it's responsible to do so.

As other events look toward potential postponement until the summer because of the pandemic, we'll be monitoring the situation and may have to announce a rescheduling of CO Trash. I hope we'll be able to maintain our claim on CO Sunday in the event that CO has to be rescheduled to accommodate other events or, in more dire circumstances, because the outbreak continues to make travel unsafe for participants or their communities this summer. In any event, anyone considering booking travel or lodging for CO Trash should hold off on making arrangements until there's more certainty about when the event will occur. Rest assured that, to a person, your humble CO Trash writers--Rob, Carsten, me, and NOT Cory Haala--are committed to holding this event when it's responsible to do so.

With the postponement of Chicago Open, CO Trash is also postponed. If CO proper is hosted sometime during the season, we aren't currently sure whether it will make sense to host CO Trash alongside it. We have already reached out to Erik and PQB, and they have graciously allowed us to have the summer 2021 Chicago Open Sunday slot if that makes the most sense (or if CO is postponed a whole year). We'll make a rescheduling announcement sometime after the CO editors do the same.